Covert Deductions
by SHERlockedFangirl
Summary: Evie Parker is an agent in the British Intelligence, working for the powerful Mycroft Holmes. Mycroft sends her on an important assignment, but it's compromised and Evie watches as her brother is murdered. Mycroft feels the need to call in his brother, Sherlock, to solve the case and Sherlock realises that Evie's in far more danger than they first thought.
1. Chapter 1

**Hi guys! This fic has been floating around in my head for a few weeks now, and it was driving me mad and I just had to write it down! It's probably not as good as 'A Shadow of the Past', but I enjoyed writing this and getting to invent new characters, so thanks for letting me unload my ideas! ~ SHERlockedFangirl**

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"Absolutely not!" James Parker slammed his fist down on the table of the man sat in front of him. He and his sister Evie were both part of the British Intelligence working for the famous and powerful Mycroft Holmes, who happened to be the man sat in front of them.

Evie reached up to rest her hands on her brother's arm, her hands looked tiny and delicate against his large, toned muscles. James relaxed instantly and Evie withdrew her hand and rested it in her lap, but he remained standing, towering over his employer.

"There is no way I am letting you send my sister into the field without me." Evie swelled with pride for her brother. It took courage to stand up to Mr Holmes, and James was risking his job, and possibly the entire operation with this risk. Sentiment was frowned upon in their line of work. It could distract you from your task and covers could be blown. So they'd learned to detach themselves from sentiment at a young age. 'Caring is not an advantage' was a phrase often used by Mr Holmes during the training of the new agents.

James and Evie had never been separated on an operation, not in the entirety of their 10 years active service, or their 4 years training previous to that. Their parents had died when they were very young, so young that both James and Evie couldn't remember them at all. They'd been raised by a family friend - Hannah Rose - as no aunt or uncle would take them in. Hannah was already under the employ of Mycroft Holmes, and as soon as the two of them were ready, she'd enrolled them in the training necessary to follow in her footsteps. As James was a year older than Evie, he'd begun his training a year before her, but volunteered to stay behind after he'd completed to help Evie complete hers. After that, they'd been on every mission together, and no-one had ever questioned it.

Until now.

"The operation is entirely safe, it's simply a matter of retrieving the information from Searl's personal computer regarding the terrorist movement that we suspect he is involved with, and getting out of there. A simple retrieval mission." Mycroft threw the file towards them. Evie went to pick it up, but James got there before her. He had always been very protective of Evie. Some might consider it over-bearing, but Evie appreciated it. It was good to have someone you could trust on an operation. There was always every chance that another agent's allegiance could be bought for a high price, but not James. He would never betray Evie for any amount of money.

He read the file, his eyes scanning the pages at an impressive pace.

"You must understand, Parker, that I can't send anymore than 3 agents on this retrieval. I have chosen Evelyn because she shows the most skill regarding computers, numbers and code breaking." Mr Holmes regarded her with a fond look - rare for a man of his rank. "Indeed, she's the most adept agent in this area that has ever been under my employ." Evie blushed. She knew that emotional reactions such as this were entirely inappropriate, but she could not help but feel a burst of pride in her chest. She'd always been good with numbers and technology, and she'd known that. But to be the best in that area ever? Well, that's something she didn't mind being proud of.

"Thank you Mr Holmes." She did not meet his eye, but she knew he was watching her. Mycroft had always favoured Evie above her brother, and indeed, above several other agents - holding her in high regard because of the talent she shows. It was for this reason, he'd elected to grant Evie the use of her first name, as opposed to just calling her 'Miss Parker'.

"And what about the other two agents? Why was I not considered for this operation?" James had raised his voice to a shout. He was furious. How could Mr Holmes even consider sending Evie on a mission without him? When Evie had mentioned it to him over their mid-morning break, and James had marched straight up to Mycroft's office, barged in and demanded to know what they were playing at.

"Because, Mr Parker, you're specially trained in forceful removement and invasion. What we need on this operation are agents trained in small scale operations. Evelyn provides us with the computer work, Turner specialises in small scale heists, and Harris will be providing the protection on this mission. He is incredibly accurate with shooting long and close range. We do not wish for there to be any casualties on this mission, and the body count will remain at zero."

James took a moment to collect himself. If he lost his temper completely, he'd be putting his job on the line, and his job was his only way of protecting Evie.

"I want go to on this mission." He sat down in the chair next to Evie. She remained silent, eyes staring at the wood of Mycroft's desk, respectfully silent. James passed her the file and she opened it carefully, thoroughly checking every single detail of the mission that Mr Holmes had assigned her. It would be tricky, and required a certain level of finesse. Silence and skill was the key, and Evie thought that with Turner, Harris and herself, this operation was not only achievable, but probably quite easy – well, as easy as fieldwork can get on the British Intelligence.

She was nearly the perfect agent. She did not speak unless spoken to. She followed orders without question and executed them with 100% accuracy. The only thing she'd ever been unable to do was kill another person. She was too good for that.

James on the other hand was ruthless. He would do anything to protect Evie. He had killed more than once, and had not batted an eyelid. Together, they were the perfect team.

"Mr Parker. I have already stated that we do not need you on this operation. Evelyn will be in perfectly capable hands. You will be putting yourself, the other agents and the entire operation at risk if we place you on the team."

"If I'm not going, neither is Evie."

Mycroft considered the man sat in front of him. He had developed well as an agent over the years, and was certainly reliable. He was determined to accompany Evelyn, and it was obvious that he would do everything in his power to protect her. It reminded him of himself, and the lengths he would go to protect his brother, Sherlock. Mycroft felt a twinge of compassion - an alien and unwelcome sensation. Mycroft Holmes did not do compassion. In a way, Evelyn was – as James was to him – exceedingly like his brother. Sherlock too had a firm grasp on technology and code breaking, their intelligence was highly compatible, and their brains seemed to work the same way, both connecting things that an average mind would have never picked up on. Mycroft did not like to think about what they could do with their collective intelligence, and he was sure that had he asked Evelyn to assist in the case of 'The Blind Banker' – as Doctor Watson has called it on his blog – Sherlock would have solved the case a lot quicker. Sherlock was undoubtedly quicker than Evelyn, but still, they were so remarkably similar. But this was not the time to be thinking about his baby brother.

Mycroft weighed up the chances of winning the argument with James, and the odds weren't looking good. James was stubborn, and no amount of persuasion on Mycroft's part was going to change his mind. Of course, he could easily put another agent on the operation who wasn't Evelyn, and who was trained in code breaking and technology. But the operation was delicate and required the level of skill only shown by her. So, Mycroft could only do one thing.

"Alright, since you leave me no choice Mr Parker, you may join Evelyn, Mr Turner and Mr Harris. But if anything goes wrong, if the operation is compromised in any way, I will be holding you personally responsible and you shall be forbidden to accompany Evelyn on any future missions. Am I making myself perfectly clear?"

"Crystal clear, sir." James' face looked like thunder. He spat out the word 'sir' as if it were a bad taste in his mouth. With a sharp nod from Mycroft, they were both dismissed. James held open the door for his sister, and they continued down the hall to the dining area (for it was now fast approaching lunch). James did not bother to say anything to Evie. She has a glazed look in her eye which he knew meant that she was thinking – probably mentally preparing herself for the task ahead by thinking of all of the various code breaking techniques they'd ever been taught. She was always to type to plan ahead, whereas he would just go with whatever his gut instinct was at the time.

James loved to watch his sister think. He could never understand how her mind connected everything so quickly and with such assurance that she was right.

"It's all a matter of timing. Everything needs to be absolutely perfect. No doubt that Searle will have software that changes his passcodes every hour or so."

"But then, how would that even be possible? He'd never be able to get into his own computer."

"It would be on a predetermined list of settings, obviously." SHe rolled her eyes. "The list is changed everyday, the old codes are destroyed, there will never be identical codes, ever.. He simply has to calculate which code he pre-programmed and he'd get in. However, the only person with access to these code is him…"

Evie continued to talk aloud to her brother about the mission. She, like Mr Holmes, had reservations about James accompanying her, but his orders were final, and it looks like they'd have to deal with it. She only hoped that it didn't affect the results of the operation. Mr Holmes was relying on her.


	2. Chapter 2

It had all been going to plan. It was 3am, all staff had been dismissed, and Searl's office building had been completely deserted, apart from the few members of security that he kept there around the clock. If Turner hadn't been a part of the team, they would have never made it past the CCTV and disarmed the security guards. They'd made their way quickly to Searl's office after gaining access to the building. He hadn't been there for hours, and it was unlikely that he would have been coming back whilst they were there.

Evie had entered alone, the others were stationed outside of the office in preparation. Just a precaution of course. They weren't actually expecting anything to happen. She'd quickly set up her top-of-the-range laptop next to Searl's – for it was the only one with the necessary software for the job – and had set to work. Her fingers did not move as normal people's did when they type out long codes, they danced across the keyboard, her eyes never moving from the screen. Small digits raced across the screen as she watched, committing each one to memory.

She was in the computer system in five minutes. It was a breeze. She'd inserted the leads that connected their computers and downloaded the codes. She hadn't try to make sense of the sequences of numbers and letters that flashed across the screen, that would come later in the lab. What did surprise Evie was the list of names that appeared. Her eyes had darted across the screen, committing every name to memory. Surely Mr Holmes would require this information later, and Evie always filed things away in her mind, just in case the files were lost or corrupted. It was a habit she'd grown into after her first practice assignment during training.

Having finished downloading the codes, she'd quickly installed a virus that scrambled the codes on Searl's computer, making them impossible to use. Evie was now the only one with a correct, uncorrupted copy of them

Something in the air had shifted. There was no noise to startle Evie, but she'd felt unsettled. She'd turned off Searl's computer and moved back towards the office door. It was locked from the outside. Something was wrong, very wrong. She'd taken a pin from her long, brown hair which was tied up tightly in a neat, practical bun, and set to work picking the locks. They didn't need expensive equipment like all agents seemed to use in the cliché films, just a basic knowledge of lock, their weak points and a hair-pin. She heard the muffled click of the lock as it opened, and as silently as she could, she'd opened the door. Where there should have been the three other members of her team, she only found two unconscious figures on the floor.

Evie had never felt her heart beating so fast, she could hear it ringing in her ears. Her breathing became faster and deeper as she felt the panic rising in her chest. She knelt down next to the two figures. She recognised the faces of Harris and Turner. Reaching out, she checked for a pulse on both of the men, relief washing over her when she felt the beat of a heart under her fingers, an unmistakeable sign of life. After establishing that the two members of her team were safe, Evie turned to search for her brother. There was no trace of life, no set of clues for her to follow. Panic began to consume her again.

No. She was in the middle of an important assignment, and the assignment had obviously been compromised. They'd miscalculated. Trying to control her breathing, Evie remembered the correct protocol for this type of situation. Carefully removing a gun from Turner's slack grip, she armed herself and scanned the room for any signs of danger. Then, she moved the two unconscious figures across the room to the wall, leaning them up so they were sat against each other. After making sure they wouldn't fall or slip down to the floor again, she took her phone out of the small pocket on the left side of her chest.

There was only one use for this phone, and there was only one number it was programmed to call. The other side picked up immediately.

"Evelyn, what's happened?"

"Mr Holmes, the assignment's been compromised, I have two unconscious agents with me – Agents Turner and Harris - and the location of the third is unknown."

"Do you have the codes?"

"Yes, sir."

"I'm sending a team over immediately. Evelyn I would advise you to stay with the majority of your team until they get there, however I need you to locate Agent Parker. It is essential that all members of the team return."

"Yes, sir." The line went dead; Mr Holmes had terminated the call. She replaced the phone in its pocket, left her laptop with Harris and Turner, got a steady grip on her gun and proceeded to make her way through the open door and down the dark corridor.

She moved in silent, calculated steps, knowing exactly where to place her feet so no sound would be made, knees bent, crouched down low so she could control her centre of gravity. Her eyes never stopped moving, constantly checking for any movement. Her ears were keen and alert, but no sound reached her.

She rounded a corner cautiously, taking great care not to disturb the silence.

At the end of the new corridor, there was a tiny sliver of light in the darkness, a bright and inviting beacon. There were quiet, muffled voices coming from that direction, and Evie increased the pace of her movements. It was only a few seconds before she reached that large, intimidating, grey office door. She leaned against the wall, sliding down until she was crouching on the floor. Her head tilted at an angle so she was able to look through the tiny gap from which the light was coming.

Her blood ran cold.

Her lungs stopped functioning.

Her mind went blank.

James was kneeling on the floor, gun about 3 feet away from him, under the foot of some large, meat-headed man. His hands were behind his head, which was bowed and his gaze was firmly on the floor in front of him. There was movement and Evie shifted her position so she could see more.

A tall, thin silhouette of a man that could have only been Theodore Searl – the man whose computer systems Evie was infiltrating not 5 minutes ago.

"Who else is with you?" the voice was harsh, cold and sent an involuntary shiver down Evie's spine.

"No-one. There were just three of us. We never even made it into your office." James' voice was steady. If she could see his face, Evie imagined it must have been schooled into an expression of blankness, trying not to give anything away.

Searl bent right over and put his face in front of James', forcing James to look up into his face.

"Liar." In one swift movement Searl straightened himself whilst impacting a fist to the face of Evie's brother.

"You really should update your security system. It's pathetically easy to get into this building." James flashed Searl a mocking smile. Evie knew exactly what he was trying to do. He was buying her time. James knew that Evie would have called for back-up, and his job was to keep Searl and his team of cronies distracted as they waited.

"Tell. Me. Who. Else. Is. Here." Searl spat out eat word as if they were poisoned darts that he longed to sink into her brother's neck.

For a long moment there was silence, both men staring into each other's eyes, refusing to be the first to look away. It was a power game.

"No," replied James, still smiling cockily up at his captor. A trickle of blood was running from the corner of his lip. Searl snarled in frustration and he turned his head, running his hands through his hair.

"Look here," Searl's voice had dropped by several octaves, and the result made Evie's skin crawl, "I can make this easy. Tell me who else is here, and I let you walk free, I let you live." James let out a huff of air, a laugh of disbelief. "Or, I can make this incredibly hard for you."

"I'm sure you can. Please feel free to explain how this encounter could possibly be any worse than any of my other assignments." James rolled his eyes. Bad move. He received another punch for his comments, this time to the stomach. Evie could not help but wince as Searl's fist impacted her brother's abdomen with a loud, sickening thump.

Evie felt a hand on her shoulder, and was just about to let out a scream before she recognised the face of Gardener, a fellow agent that was part of the back-up team. Gardener motioned to the darkness behind her, where Evie assumed must be more agents. They lined themselves up in the corridor as Evie turned her attention back to what was happening with her brother.

"Well," Searl began again, "I can see you're going to be of no use to me. It's a shame, I could have offered you a good position." He nodded to someone who was stood out of view from the door.

There was a shot.

There was a scream.

There was a blur of black as Evie felt the other agents move past her and invade the room where Searl was holding her brother.

Except James was now lying on the floor, eyes glassy, and blood pouring our of the bullet wound in his head.

Evie was only vaguely able to recognise that she was the one screaming.

"Agent down!" Another voice was shouting from behind her. "Agent down!"

"James!" Evie screamed. She could hear her voice cracking. She tried to move towards him, but two pairs of strong arms were holding her, moving her back through the corridor. "No! Let go of me! JAMES!" She shrieked her brother's name, as if by some miracle, it was able to bring him back to her. As the reality of the situation dawned on her, Evie felt her knees give way, and her world was engulfed by blackness.

When Evie next registered being conscious, she was already sat in a chair in front of Mr Holmes' desk, a blanket wrapped around her shoulders and a light shining into her eyes. As she came back to herself, she pushed away the source of the light.

"Evelyn, can you hear me?" Evie's vision focused onto the face of Mr Holmes. She nodded her head. She'd never seen him looking so worried, the calm façade finally shattered by tonight's events.

James was dead.

He was gone.

Evie's only family, her only friend.

Tears stung in her eyes and threatened to spill.

A pair of warm, strong hands settled themselves on her shoulder, and as Evie continued to stare into the face of Mr Holmes – funny, she'd always been the only one to call him that, everyone else usually called him 'The Boss', or the more confident and arrogant agents (her brother included) called him Mycroft – before she realised that it must be his hands on her shoulders. Turning to look down at them, she followed the arms up to see that they did indeed belong to Mr Holmes.

"Evelyn, I need you to listen to me very carefully. I know you're in shock, but I need you to answer some questions about tonight's assignment." She nodded again.

"What did you do with the laptop after our conversation?"

"I-" Evie's voice cracked, and she raised the glass of water she did not remember receiving to her lips. After she gulped down a few mouthfuls of the clear, cold liquid, she tried again. "I left it with Harris an Turner. They were both unconscious and there was no-one in the vicinity."

Mr Holmes sighed and closed his eyes, removing his hands from her shoulders and scrubbing them over his face.

"Evelyn, the laptop's missing."

Evie couldn't bring herself to say anything, she just stared blankly up at Mr Holmes as what he'd just said sunk in.

After all that work, after the loss of her brother, the mission had still be unsuccessful. She refocused on the room, and saw Mr Holmes pacing around, his phone glued to his ear as he spoke to someone on the other end.

"Sherlock, I implore you. This is possibly a serious breach of security. We need those codes." Sherlock? Was that a code name for one of the senior agents. Mr Holmes stopped pacing and let out a large, irritated sigh. "Sherlock, please. I am desperate and we need this sorted." There was a moment of silence, before, "Thank-you. I'll send a car over first thing tomorrow." Pause. "No we cannot go immediately. My people are covering the building, no evidence will be ruined. It will be in exactly the same condition I guarantee." Another pause. "My best agent and only witness is unable for interrogation." Yet another pause. "She's in shock. He brother, another of my agents, was murdered." Pause. "Yes, she saw. The poor girl is in pieces. She's with me right now." Pause. "I'm not pretending to understand, I'm taking care of her." Pause. "Very well. I shall see you tomorrow, brother dear."

Mr Holmes returned his attentions back to Evie. She must have looked confused, because Mycroft began to explain.

"I'm calling in a favour from my brother, he's a detective, better than anything Scotland Yard can offer. He might be able to help us figure out what's going on." Evie nodded. The talk of brothers was like a knife to the stomach.

Mr Holmes' face crumpled into an expression of, what can only be described as, pity.

"I'm truly sorry, Evelyn." Evie nodded. It seemed just about the only thing she was capable of. Mr Holmes moved to the door of his office and opened it. It was not a dismissal. Someone entered and moved into Evie's eye line. Two white pills were pressed into her hands.

"Here," said a female's voice. Evie couldn't place a name. "Take these." Evie obeyed. They could have been anything, but there was something about the voice, and the fact that Mr Holmes had obviously approved this, that made Evie trust in the person who had just given them to her. She gulped them down with the water that she was still holding onto, as if it were a lifeline.

Within minutes, Evie could feel the drowsiness wash over her, and she was engulfed, once again, by darkenss.


End file.
